Lord of Embers(The Demon Queen Trials #2)(35)

A soft laugh. “Yes.”

But from the wild look in his eyes, I could see he was ready to lose control, too. As well-endowed as he was, it was impossible to ignore how turned on he was.

With a sudden burst of strength, I ripped my wrists from his grasp and reached for his underwear, pulling it down.

I stared for a moment at his intimidating length, wondering if this was an incubus trait. I reached down to touch it, to stroke it. He groaned, the air heating around him, and uttered a demonic curse. He gripped my wrists again, pinning me down to the floor. Possessive.

For a moment, he was pressed against my wet heat, his mouth hovering above mine. Desire coiled tightly in me, and I shifted my hips, moving against him.

“Are you going to admit I’m your queen?”

“No, love, because you’re my worst enemy,” he whispered, “but this I will admit. I can’t stop thinking about you, and I never will.”

Slowly, he slid into me, one inch at a time, his size nearly overwhelming me. “Tell me how much you want me,” he said, and I could hear the strain in his voice. He was using everything in himself to maintain control.

“I think you know, Orion.”

He slid inside me as far as he could go. He paused, searching my eyes to see how I felt, and I wanted him to stop holding back.

He pressed his lips against mine, delivering a kiss that would surely ruin me, as promised. His tongue slid against mine in a sensual caress.

Slowly, he moved his hips back, then he thrust into me again.

Never in my life had I imagined anything could feel this amazing. I tightened my thighs around him.

He pulled away from the kiss, his gaze searching mine again. “You don’t know how many times I have thought of this.” His voice sounded raw, ragged, and his mouth lowered near my throat.

He was moving a little faster now, and he kissed me again—harder, more desperately, his tongue sweeping against mine as he fucked me.

As he thrust into me, intense pleasure made me moan into his mouth, my body coiling tighter with a need for release. He was moving faster now, with an animalistic ferocity, as if he were claiming me.

I moaned his name, throwing my head back against the rug, my breasts sliding against his chest.

I would have said anything in that moment, but I couldn’t remember what it was he’d wanted me to say. My entire world had narrowed to the feel of him inside me, giving me the intense pleasure I’d craved for so long.

As my climax built, I breathed his name, over and over.. My climax ripped out of me, my body tightening around him.

“Rowan.” He said my name with reverence, and then, with a shudder, he groaned against my neck as his fingers clenched under my ass. Orion wrapped his arm around me, his head resting against my neck. By the slump of his shoulders, he looked defeated. I touched his cheek.

Shuddering with the aftershocks, I caught my breath. His muscles had relaxed, and he held my gaze.

I stroked his muscled back. “I may have just ruined my life, but it was worth it.”

I wanted him to kiss me again, but this wasn’t love, was it? He’d made that perfectly clear.

He had the posture of a man who’d lost a battle. So who had actually been ruined here? I wasn’t so sure it was me.

He pushed himself up on his elbows, staring into my eyes again. For the first time, he looked strangely innocent. Vulnerable, maybe.

“Orion?” I said, remembering my ripped dress. “I’m going to need your coat for the rest of the trip.”





C H A P T E R 1 9 — R O W A N

W e walked on snow-covered paths, the forest’s magic still pulsing through the air. It swirled around inside my skull like a potion. I shivered in Orion’s coat, nearly naked under the scratchy wool.

I hoped we found this Dying God before I got frostbite in very unfortunate places. The coat didn’t fit me at all, and the pressure of the backpack kept popping a button open. As the bottom of the coat dragged over the forest floor, snow accumulated on the hem.

I tried to picture myself in the oversized wool garment and was pretty sure I looked like a nineteenth-century Russian clown.

Orion walked by my side, his hands in the pockets of his cloak. Now he looked completely relaxed, and he gave me a mischievous glance.

“Sorry about the dress.”

“Was tearing it really necessary?”

“Absolutely.”

Did I regret what we’d just done? Given the way my body still felt, humming and electrified, I couldn’t say that I did. Besides, there was no point in regretting something you couldn’t control. Might as well bemoan the need to breathe. What was the point? Once he’d said he was going to ruin me with a kiss, I’d needed him like I needed oxygen.

There was no choice—my desire for him was like a command from a god.

I did regret the loss of the dress, though, because the biting wintry air sneaked into the gaps in the coat, stinging my bare skin, and the bottom of the coat had grown damp with the snow.

When an unnatural, silvery glow illuminated the trees, my mood improved. We were close, surely. The moonlight gleamed upward, beaming from the forest floor to the skies.

I tugged the coat tighter around me, wondering how much weirder things could get. I was about to meet a demon god wearing a wool tent with buttons and my tits ready to pop out.

“He’s here,” Orion said with a quiet reverence. He’d never seemed sure if the gods were real, and I wondered if he actually believed deep down.